Tim Howard named CONCACAF Goalkeeper of the Year

CONCACAF has awarded Tim Howard the confederation's Goalkeeper of the Year award. It is the second straight year he has captured the award, which he won over Mexico's Gullermo Ochoa and Costa Rica's Keylor Navas.

That Howard won the award is ... curious. It's not that he didn't have a brilliant, eye-catching, record-setting match at the World Cup, because he did against Belgium. It's not that he didn't play phenomenally for Everton in the first half of the year to help them to one of their best finishes in years, because he did.

It's that he won Goalkeeper of the Year, but Navas won Player of the Year. So the Ticos' backstop was the best player in the entire confederation, but Howard was the best goalkeeper? Try to explain that one.

Regardless, congratulations to Howard on his second straight CONCACAF Goalkeeper of the Year award. Whether you won it or not, you gave the United States one of the best World Cup individual performances in the country's history. You gave the World Cup one of the best goalkeeper performances in the tournament's history. You have the silverware, and that's great, but you were already a part of U.S. and World Cup lore.